By Albertina Nakale
WINDHOEK – The absence of a coordinated marketing approach among local producers is the reason why the newly established fresh produce hubs are yet to effectively establish their presence in the retail market.
At the root of the marketing problem are farmers who tend to produce one specific type of produce and thus effectively flood the market with similar produce in a given season, without guarantees of being able to supply markets with quality produce over a prolonged time. More often than not farmers do this because of climate conditions, the ease of production and storability.
“Farmers produce first and then look for the market later as they have to make a living. Therefore, there are shortages and flooding of produce in the markets during certain seasons. Efforts are, however, already underway to set up a synchronized production calendar to supply the hubs as per market demands, and to have a demand-driven production,” said Meke Uushona, the corporate branding and promotion officer for the government’s Agri-Trade Marketing and Trade Agency (AMTA).
New Era approached Uushona to comment on public criticism that the produce hubs could end up being white elephants as they are not doing enough to supply local retailers, with retailers still exporting fresh produce from South Africa, while the produce hubs have resorted to being wholesalers that are open for the immediate communities buying debulked items at lower prices.
AMTA has hubs in Rundu and Ongwediva, constructed at hundreds of millions of dollars to serve as storage facilities and facilitate the marketing of local produce on behalf of the farmers.
“The hubs are really not turning into white elephants. In fact, both the Ongwediva and Rundu hubs have sold produce worth over N$4.1 million and have moved over 900 metric tons of produce since inception. The figure may look small, but given the fact that when we started operating, farmers had already planted their produce based on the existing market at the time,” said Uushona.
AMTA says its Rundu hub alone currently has about 1.5 metric tons of potatoes, 2 metric tons of onions, 1.8 metric tons of pumpkins, 300kg of tomatoes, 500 kg of apples, as well as green pepper, lettuce and green beans in smaller quantities. A new fresh consignment of 9 metric tons of cabbage was scheduled for arrival over last weekend.
Uushona says in the absence of a cropping schedule and commitment from retailers to source from local farmers, farmers were not encouraged to produce in abundance because of uncertainty in the market.
“However, with the introduction of AMTA, the farmers have now committed themselves to produce more,” she said.
Although Namibia has a free market system and everyone is free to do business with whoever they wish, Uushona says it was going to be ideal if retailers, traders and anyone in the business of fresh produce first exhausted the local produce before any produce is imported into the country, unless of products not locally available.
She also acknowledged that multi-national and chain retailers already have guaranteed supply contracts in place which they would not abandon for unreliable supply contracts with local producers.
“The supermarkets will not abandon their system without the guarantee of quality and consistency of supply from Namibian producers. As such, farmers’ training is already under way to ensure that farmers produce according to market standards. A synchronized cropping programme is already being set up to ensure consistent production of certain produce that we can produce in the country throughout the year,” Uushona said.